Pine Burl Hot Springs!
Another grand hike in Idaho! Really grand! This hot spring, on the Middle Fork of the Payette River, has had some extensive volunteer work done to make it a real blessing.
An unknown hot springer carted in concrete, and fabricated a beautiful pool, with cold and hot water input piping and control valves. Once you get the water mix right, and the pool
is full, you can easily think you have died and gone to heaven... at least 'heavenly'. Read on for pictures and explanations.

The trail begins at a parking area above and back from this picture. This photo is of the forest service rental cabin right at Boiling Hot Springs	Boiling Hot Springs is at the beginning of the hike into Pine Burl. It is call Boiling Hot Springs because, well, it comes out of the hill at, or near, 200+ degrees. Interestingly, the hill that all of this emerges from, has a number of different seeps, each at a different temperature. On the right is the hottest one, which has black algae, an indicator of a very hot seep.
A particularly interesting seep comes out and across this flat rock	The colors of fall are always a pleasure, that is if you can forget that all this color is a harbinger to a cold and miserable time ahead.
This photo violates one of my long-standing rules, that of keeping one's shadows out of the picture. However the sun is so low on the horizon that there was no way to accomplish that. Next to me is apparently a goat's shadow, and he is standing back so he casts a much longer image. With a whole lot of imagination, you can picture his shadow on this bush as a zombie with his arms up, and his two eyes are clearly in the part that would be his head.	We elected to take the trail down the north side of the river, instead of the river crossing. We were sorry. This trail, which undoubtedly is a hiker's trail, goes up at a dizzying pace, then back down, then back up, then... By the time you get to where the official trail crosses back over to the north side of the river, you are ready for a long-term rest
Just before you enter the Dash Creek drainage, you come across an entire hillside of seeps, most of which are not extremely hot, but interesting nonetheless.	Clearly it had been colder in the period prior to our arrival, as ice in the various streams is much in evidence.
Another seep, coming out and across the face of this granite outcropping.	First glimpse of the hot pool. Cold and hot inputs are on the far side of the pool, and the output, a 4" ABS pipe is below in this photo. Pool is empty at this point. It is only filled when it is being used to keep algae and moss from growing in and around the pool.
Since the expedition leader insisted on a last soak, all the other participants in this venture had to cool their heels while glorious leader warmed his.	Business end of the pool after filling.
The output end of the pool. The extra water coming into the pool after filling runs over the rocks at the far end next to the big rock.	A wider shot looking down the drainage towards the Payette River
Looking up the drainage towards the camping area
The hot water source. The original construction engineer of this gem put a screened input pipe that takes from this small pool, and pipes it into the main pool.	A last longing look... maybe I could build a house here? Maybe not.
Since the leader is finally making signs that he is ready to go, hiking partner is getting her stuff together. The goats are not getting up until there is no question that the expedition is under way.	Looks like this log is sprouting a beard.
	The logs to cross Dash Creek. Whoa! Wait a minute, is that an ice covering I see on those logs? Certainly is. Maybe we'll cross somewhere else!
So here's the decision point. Do we take the grunt trail to the right, the one we came in on? Or do we wimp out and take the one to the left that crosses the river. The river it is!	The first crossing. Looks benign enough. That is, until you remember that the temperature of this water is somewhere near absolute zero... well at least it feels like it!
Here comes hiking partner. As usual, the goats are yelling, "Come on, slowpoke!"	A beautiful shot of a deep bend.
The second crossing. Maybe the water's warmer here? Maybe not. After crossing, the legs feel like they have departed stage left!	On the trip back we elect to take the actual trail which crosses above Boiling Hot Spring. Last picture of this trip, an unusual November jaunt in this unusual weather year.